The recent archaeological discovery in Lithuania comprises a total of 48 silver coins, a high value by both past and present standards. However, it includes a number of unusual specimens.
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The recent archaeological discovery was made by Russian researchers conducting an excavation in Smolensk (a major city in Western Russia). They unearthed a total of 48 coins, 46 of which can be attributed to one of the leading currencies of the Middle Ages, the Prague groschen. All of them date from the early 15th century, as do two other, somewhat rarer specimens.
These also include a Djudjid-Djang, a Mongolian currency minted in Crimea and attributable to Khan Bek-Sufi. Furthermore, the researchers discovered a true rarity, a Lithuanian denar bearing the imprint of Grand Duke Vytautas. It is adorned with columns, a spear, and a cross, and also displays the profile of the Grand Duke, as the Smolensk Museum reports on Russian social media site, VK.
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This is the Background of the Discovery
Such an archaeological find might seem unusual for the region where it occurred. However, given the coins it contains, the surprise is limited. The Prague groschen, minted in large quantities by King Wenceslaus II in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, served as a kind of “leading currency” across Eastern Europe at the time. Regionally, it could be compared to the role of the dollar today. Moreover, the Russian Grand Principalities, which then operated as a confederation in the East, played a key role in connecting Eastern and Western Europe through trade.
This also explains the Lithuanian coin, which may have been transported by a merchant. At the same time, most of the Russian principalities were under the nominal tributary rule of the Mongols, who mostly ruled from Crimea or modern-day Saratov. Therefore, the Mongolian coin included in the recent archaeological discovery is also easy to explain.
Sources: VK/Smolenskaya Expeditsiya IA RAN
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